Introduction

This is the player's guide for BOARD18 Version 2.4.x. This guide should be read by new players.
It should also prove quite helpful as a reference for all players.

This page of the Player's Guide should be read by everyone who wishes to use BOARD18.
At the bottom of this page you will find links to pages that contain supplemental information about BOARD18.
Once you are a little familiar with BOARD18, you should look over at least some of these supplemental pages.

Please note, if you are just getting started, then you may want to use this link to access the document How to set up an 18xx game using BOARD18.

Getting Started

The Log In Page

The entry point to BOARD18 is a page with some introductory text and a log in form. Once you have a player ID and a password, you should enter them on this form and press the Login button to start a BOARD18 session.

To get a player ID and a password press the Register button on the log in form. This will present you with a registration form that you can use to create a player ID and a password. You must enter a email address on the form. This will be used to send you some automated Emails for situations such as lost passwords and notification that you have been added to or removed from a game. Also a site administrator will be able to use it to contact you in problem situations. But no other player will have access to your email address. It it highly recommended that you use the first and last name fields so that other players will find it easier to find you and add you to a game that you have agreed to join.

Pressing the Help button on the log in form will transfer you to this WIKI page. Use the back arrow button to return to BOARD18.

Pressing the Forgot your Player ID? button on the log in form will present you with a form for requesting that your Player ID be Emailed to you.

Pressing the Forgot your Password? button on the log in form will present you with a form for requesting that a temporary password be Emailed to you.

The BOARD18 Main Page

After successfully logging in to BOARD18 you will enter the Main Page.
The Main Page contains a table of the Active games that you are currently playing. Completed games will not appear here. But they will appear on the View All Games page.

This same MENU button appears on most BOARD18 pages but the menu choices
and menu style will be different from page to page.

Features Common to Main Menus

Pressing the Help button in a main menu on most pages will open this "Player's Guide" in another browser tab.

Hovering on the Help button in a main menu on the map and market pages will open a sub menu.

Pressing Player's Guide on this sub menu will open this "Player's Guide" in another browser tab.

Hovering on Useful Links on this sub menu will open a sub menu of usefull links relevant to this game.

Pressing the About BOARD18 button in any main menu will open the "About BOARD18" popup window.

Playing A Game

The actual game board and stock chart do NOT support drag and drop functionality. But they do support use of both the left and right mouse buttons. Most movements of tiles and tokens are not saved to the database until the move is Accepted.The active tile or token will appear transparent until its move is Accepted. Accepted moves can be backed out using the Undo Move menu option.

The Trays

Selecting Trays

The left sidebar on the Game Board and the Stock Market pages contains the active tray beneath a tray selection drop down menu. Clicking on the name of a tray in this drop down menu makes that tray the active tray.

Selecting Tiles or Tokens from the Active Tray

The tiles or tokens in the active tray are displayed with a count of available items in the upper left corner. (But there is no such count for stock market tokens.) If the count is zero then the tile or token is greyed out and cannot be selected. Clicking on a tile or token in the active tray will select that tile or token and it will be highlighted with a red background.

Dropping Tiles on the Map

When a tile on the active tray is highlighted with a red background (selected), it can be dropped on a map hex by clicking on the hex. The tile will be automatically centered in the hex. The dropped tile has NOT yet been permanently placed and can be further adjusted (rotated) before it is permanently placed with the accept move command or the ENTER key. If there is already a tile on that map hex then that tile will be removed when the dropped tile is is permanently placed.

Dropping Tokens on the Map

When a token on the active tray is highlighted with a red background (selected), it can be dropped on a map hex by clicking anywhere on the hex. The token will be placed at the point that is clicked. The dropped token has NOT yet been permanently placed and can be further adjusted (flipped or moved) before it is permanently placed with either the accept move command or the ENTER key.

Dropping Tokens on the Market

When a token on the active tray is highlighted with a red background (selected), it can be dropped on a market box by clicking anywhere in the box. The token will be placed at the point that is clicked. The dropped token has NOT yet been permanently placed and can be further adjusted (flipped or moved) before it is permanently placed with either the accept move command or the ENTER key.

Clicking The Board or Market

If you left click on a hex with a temporary [transparent] tile then the tile will rotate 60°.
If you left click on a hex or box with a temporary [transparent] token then the token will move to the position clicked.
If you left click anywhere else then you may get a context menu.
Right clicks can also cause context menus to be displayed.

The Context Menus

A right click on the game board (or the stock market) can cause a context menu to be displayed.
A left click on a hex or market box that is not selected can also cause a context menu to be displayed.
Whether this context menu is displayed at all and the selection of items in the context menu are both dependent on the context of the click event.

The context menu that is displayed may support accept move, cancel move, rotate, flip,
re-position, delete, multi-item and other tile and/or token commands.
Try right or left clicking on hexes (or price boxes) which have various items on them to familiarize yourself with these menus.

Clicking The Main Menu

The primary [but perhaps not the best] way to navigate and take actions in BOARD18 is the Main Menu. This menu can be accessed by clicking on the "Menu" button that appears toward the upper left of most BOARD18 pages. The menus on the "Game Board" and "Stock Market" pages are over-viewed in this section.
Keyboard Shortcuts
for many menu items are shown (in parenthesis) in these menus.

The Game Board Main Menu

The images to the right show the main menus for the game board. The upper image shows the menu that will be
displayed when there is no active tile or token. The lower image shows the menu that will be displayed when
an active tile or token exists.
As you can see, only the first two menu items are different in the second menu.

Clicking on MENU and Undo Move causes the last change to the database to be backed out.
Clicking on MENU and Redo Move causes the last backed out change to be redone in the database.
Clicking on MENU and Accept Move causes the active tile or token to be added to the database.
Clicking on MENU and Cancel Move causes the active tile or token to be discarded.
Clicking on MENU and Hide/Show hides the tokens and tiles on the map or re-shows them if they are hidden.
Clicking on MENU and Go To causes a Go To sub-menu to be displayed.
Clicking on MENU and Snapshots causes a Snapshots sub-menu to be displayed.
Clicking on MENU and Help causes a Help sub-menu to be displayed.
Clicking on MENU and About BOARD18 will open the "About BOARD18" popup window.

You can avoid using this menu for common functions by using the
Keyboard Shortcuts instead.

The Stock Market Main Menu

The main menus for the stock market are similar to the main menu for the game board.

Clicking on MENU and Undo Move causes the last change to the database to be backed out.
Clicking on MENU and Redo Move causes the last backed out change to be redone in the database.
Clicking on MENU and Accept Move causes the active token to be added to the database.
Clicking on MENU and Cancel Move causes the active token to be discarded.
Clicking on MENU and Go To causes a Go To sub-menu to be displayed.
Clicking on MENU and Snapshots causes a Snapshots sub-menu to be displayed.
Clicking on MENU and Help causes a Help sub-menu to be displayed. See below.
Clicking on MENU and About BOARD18 will open the "About BOARD18" popup window.

You can avoid using this menu for common functions by using the
Keyboard Shortcuts instead.

The Help Sub-Menu

On the game board and stock chart pages, the Help menu choice works differently than it does
on other pages. On these two pages hovering over it opens the following sub-menu:

Clicking on Player's Guide will open this "Player's Guide" in another browser tab.
Hovering over Useful Links will cause further sub menu to open. This sub-menu will
look something like the one shown on the right. The BOARD18 Project link will always
appear. Other optional links may also appear. There are two potential sources for these links.
Some can be provided as part of the game box that is being used for this game. Others may be
created for this specific game via the
"Miscellaneous Action" facility.

Additional Pages of this Guide

The following is a list of the Player's Guide pages that are linked to from this page.